The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1887-06-29

Altogether a alSe Alarm.
COLUMBIA, June 21.-In accordance
with instructions from the home office, l
went to Laurens yesterday to investl-
gate the rumors which have been SO
wildly circulated as to an uprising OF
colored farm laborers, and came back
to-day satisfied that nlne-tenths OF the
reports have been without justification.
The negroes have been tricked by
Hoover and men of his stamp into en-
tering labor association, which is use
less to them and which they do not nm
derstand. Hoover holds the fees and
they hold the meetings. They have a
blind idea that joining such al organlza-
tion Will help them financially. Ii, as is
reported, not per cent. of the negroes
in that section work for wages, it Is I'M
possible to see what good strike would
do them. They contract to cultivate the
crops for share, and as the crop IS al
most laid by now violation OF these
contracts would simply save money to
the farmers.
As to the talk of insurrection the peo-
pie in the town of Laurens have no faith
in it. It is impossible to trace the
rumors to this effect to any authentic
source; There is less uneaslness and
concern in the town of Laurens on this
subject than there is in Charleston or
Columbia. All work is going on quietly
in the section alleged to be threatened
and the concurrent opinion of every one
I spoke to in Laurens was that nothing
could be ascertained or seen by going
thus far.
The section where the labor organiza-
tions exist is near the Greenville auc
Spartanburg lines. The whites are in
the majority. There is no county in the
State where the negroes have been
longer and more completely within the
control OF the whites than in Laurens.
An insurection would simply mean their
own obliteration. Besides this, there is
no issue which could so excite them as
to make them desperate. There is no
conflict of wages, such as led to the rice
field strikes Of 1876. They have the
prospect of gathering the finest crops
they have had for a decade. Their fu-
ture is full of hope for material success.
The sum of the whole matter is that
the negroes have been kept so complete
ly under control in Laurens county that
organization OF any kind is unusual to
them, and the fact that have now or
ganized for an underlined agrarian pur-
pose is enough to make some foolish or
unreasonable people imagine vain things.
The people of the town Of Laurens are
infinitely more concerned in the build
ing of their cotton factory than in this
thing, which is sensation to those at
great distances from the scene Of the re-
ported trouble.
Your Laurens correspondent has for
wsrded so full an account that it is un-
necessary for me to say more than this.
Colonel Traynham, of the Governors
staff, came down to-day with me from
Laurens. He refused to make any state
mcnt for publication, but intimated that
I had about heard all the facts from
Captain Irby. My talk with Captain
Irby assisted me in forming the conclu-
sion set forth above. Colonel Traynham
made brief verbal report to the Governor
this evening and went to bed. His tx
cenency could not be found at home,
nor would he be seen for o moment at
the meeting of the trustees of the Uni
versity, which he is attending and which
will last for hours yet, but it may be
confidently assumed tonight that Col.
TraynhGm's conclusion agrees substan-
TALLY with those of Captain Irby, and
that neither he nor the Governor IS
alarmed at the prospect.
All Quiet in Spartanburs.
SPARrASBURe, June 21.-Further IN
vestigation to-day strengthens me IN my
opinion that the negroes of this county
do not contemplate strike, or any vio-
lence. They are not fools enough to
wait until their crops are nearly finished
with the finest prospects they have had
for years, to begin revolution that
would damage them in every possible
way.